Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for August 2021

Midday Siesta

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“Siestas” in Spanish originate from the Latin phrase “hora sexta” or sixth hour and suggest a brief midday rest after being up and about for six hours. In some areas in the Mediterranean siesta time is taken very seriously and can happen any time from noon to 5pm. During this time it is not unusual to find markets, stores, pharmacies with their doors closed to the public and a “be back in one hour sign”. Many parts of the world have incorporated these breaks into their daily lives and some studies conducted in the Mediterranean even show the relation between napping and good diet, healthier aging and having higher activity levels. Back home in Puerto Rico siestas are a big thing after work, school, or during lunch breaks and a Sunday afternoon without a nap is definitely not complete. The US has caught on and has come up with the term power naps and the chimps approve. Here at the sanctuary, there’s no specific time for nap time but personally it fills my heart to see individuals peacefully resting surrounded by their peers. I hope these fill your hearts as well!

Cy and Lucky resting in the front rooms

Dora resting in the front rooms

Foxie resting in the green house

Lucky about to nap

Negra resting in the green house

Rayne resting in the front room

Special shout out to all of those who have bought blankets from the wish list! We are still in need of more and as you all can see the chimps really appreciate them.

Check out the link to our Wish List on Amazon.

All Season Burrito

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My phone has been angry at me the past week or so. The memory is near capacity and it sometimes refuses to run some apps. The culprit of the memory consumption? Photos and video. Though I upload them to a cloud drive, I still have them on my phone because you never know when you’re going to need one to send to some one. It’s (personally) tough to purge the photos and video from my phone. As I delete 100, I take 100 more the next day I arrive at work. But, as I try to better myself at deleting things off my phone and trust the cloud drive, I found several videos of Burrito and I running around Young’s Hill over the past year. Watching these over again, I realized something. Every season is running season for Burrito! Please enjoy this montage of him running around Young’s Hill in the various seasons of Washington State.

Here are some bonus photos I took today and yesterday:

Foxie watching the produce delivery this morning from Young’s Hill.

Negra in the Greenhouse while the others venture out on their first patrol of the morning.

Jody foraging for some pine branches and wild roses on Young’s Hill this afternoon.

Jamie with her sweet pepper haul yesterday during Missy’s birthday.

Annie with her sweet potato haul yesterday.

 

In honor of Becky and Mave

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Many hoots and moos and thanks to good friend of chimpanzees, bovines and humans, Tobin, who sponsored this day of sanctuary in celebration of her dear friend, Becky Babcock and Becky’s Pal, Mave Chimpanzee!

“Another August 24 has come to pass, and as Mave’s Human Pal, Becky Babcock is experiencing her annual 25th birthday. My friend Becky is moving to another house and town and as she packs and unpacks boxes I wouldn’t be surprised if she finds that missing 1.24% of genetic material that would qualify her for chimpanzeedom. Indeed, if I didn’t know any better, I would suppose that she has already found her errant genetic material and has taken up residence at the sanctuary…the way she goes on and on about Mave and Honey B, you would think that she meets with them every morning to groom and gossip. Sincerely, “Tobin”.

Happy Birthday, Becky! Better keep up your stretching if you’re going to spend your mornings with these two ladies. 😉 We hope you have a beautiful day of celebration and thanks so much for loving these special chimpanzees women.

Mave and Honey B!

Soup of the (Birth)Day

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Today, we celebrated Missy’s 46th birthday with a tomato-themed bash.

Paulette Wrisley made us smile by generously sponsoring this day of sanctuary in Missy’s honor. To make today even more special, our good friend Monica Best also sponsored this day of sanctuary for the same reason! Thank you for thinking of Missy, Paulette and Monica!

As many of you already know, tomatoes are Missy’s favorite food and she gets unashamedly excited about them. In fact, Missy’s love of tomatoes has single-handedly convinced the aforementioned Monica to give these odd fruits another chance (with some success).

Keeping this in mind, Enrichment Coordinator Chad created a chimp-friendly menu of fresh produce centered around whole beefsteak tomatoes. The meal even had an appetizer: a zesty gazpacho-like soup consisting of red bell peppers, celery, coconut milk, garlic, sweet onions, and tomatoes.

All three groups of chimpanzees enjoyed their own parties with the same menu, and the soup was an unexpected hit with some individuals while others ran around gathering sweet peppers and tomatoes. Of course, Missy seemed to have the best day of all. She zoomed around the Greenhouse and Young’s Hill, scarfing down dozens of treats and devouring several large beefsteak tomatoes on her own.

Chad took the following photos and I asked him if I could include them in today’s post! Even if Chad had said “no,” I would have stolen the images from him and taken credit anyway.

Negra
Missy
Burrito
Foxie
Burrito (doing his best impersonation of Missy)

We’re so lucky to have such amazing supporters who make days like today possible, and we can’t possibly express our full appreciation for Paulette, Monica, and everyone else. Thanks you all for loving Missy and her companions as much as we do!

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P.S. I wanted to title this blog post Soups!… I Did It Again but I did some research and that pun is already in use. Apparently, there’s a Wisconsin company using that name for their brand. They actually make soups. I’ve been bested at my own game. Soups.

Happy Birthday, Missy!!

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We’re so thankful to you, Paulette Wrisley, and your lovely big heart for sponsoring this special day in honor of beloved Missy on her 46th birthday!:

“Let’s all put on a pair of knee highs and raise up a tomato in honor and love for MISSY’S BIRTHDAY!!!”

Missy is a true gem. Because she’s a woman of few words, a rather aloof person who usually prefers the company of her chimpanzee friends to humans, doesn’t often appreciate being in front of the camera, and is usually zooming past in a blur, I’m not sure we are always able to fully convey how amazing she is.

Missy is wicked intelligent (we can see where her daughter, Honey B, gets it). She’s best friend to dear Annie, right-hand gal to boss lady, Jamie, and she fiercely believes in backing up her chimpanzee friends during any perceived slights from the humans, no questions asked. And if you wonder what that looks like, imagine her tiny, but insanely mighty body launching onto the caging, mere inches from your face, and kicking it with all her might while barking salty threats at you. I can assure you, it never gets less intimidating. She’s brilliant when it comes to navigating chimpanzee politics, and she’s the queen of defying gravity, daredevil feats of parkour, and seemingly aging in reverse. I always say I wish I could spend just five minutes in her body to know what it feels like to move through the world as her strong, graceful, beautiful, zooming self.

When we’re very lucky, she gives the humans the honor of allowing us to sit quietly with her and groom for a spell. Or of occasionally playing with us (even though she will rarely let on that she’s having fun, too, and maybe even initiated it), all the while pretending she doesn’t even see you right there, tugging on the scarf she’s holding tightly with her little runner’s foot, looking in the opposite direction as though she could.not.be.more.bored. And then all of a sudden, she’ll look right at you with a slightly intimidating deadpan stare (again, Honey B?!), then laugh, and zoom off, throwing you a last glance to make sure you’re fast on her heels. Especially if you’re headed toward the kitchen and there’s a stash of tomatoes in the fridge.

Speaking of which, naturally, there’s a mountain of tomatoes with Missy’s name on them and party plans are under way, so be sure to tune back later today to join the celebration of, and for, this incredible chimpanzee woman!

We love you so very much, Miss. Happy Birthday!!

That time Missy climbed onto the roof of Carlene’s Tower!

Play is good for the soul

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Make sure your volume is up for this video! There’s lots of chimp laughter and breathy pants to go around. Nothing like watching chimps in a good play session! Today there was lots of play happening among The Lucky Six. Any time I would walk by their group this morning there would be different chimps playing. This video highlights Cy and Dora playing, but I also saw Dora playing with Lucky then Rayne, and Gordo playing with Rayne! This warms my heart because recently we have been finding The Lucky Six playing with each other a lot more. Happy chimps = happy caregivers.

 

Enjoy some bonus photos from today!

Annie waiting for Missy so they can explore Young’s Hill.

Sweet Lucky.

The handsome Cy.

Dora and Rayne playing.

Rayne’s play face!

 

 

Burrito is the light in all of our lives

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You’ve probably seen a video just like this in the past if you’ve been following the blog for a bit, but playing with Burrito never gets old. Head nod along as you watch the video above!

 

Bonus photo of Mave: